Gospel

What would happen if Jesus walked into a government office and tried to get a business license? I think it might go something like this:

Government official: What is your business? 

Jesus: I’m here to save the world.

Official: Right. Really, what kind of business?

Jesus: People.

(The official finds a regulation book on human resources.) OK, specifically what people?

Jesus: Anyone and everyone.

(The official is already bored and irritated.) Even the homeless, illegals and those who can’t keep a job? You don’t want those working for you. 

“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”[1]

This is the first of the famous seven last words of Christ. Words he said as he was dying on the cross.

The death and resurrection of Jesus demonstrates that God’s grace is the solution to evil. This is not controversial. It is the central pillar of Christian belief in the New Testament and in all authentic Christian teaching since. But it is rather incredible when you think about it. In my more insecure moments, I wonder if I can really believe it. Is it really possible that the answer to the whole messy history of good versus evil comes down to one simple binary choice—grace over revenge, love instead of hate, forgiveness rather than destruction? Can it really be so?

I marvel at how flexible and grace filled the apostle Paul was. Writing to the church in Corinth, he said,

“To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law… To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:20-23).

Unfortunately, Paul encountered many people, Christian, Jewish and Pagan, who were not so flexible or gracious.